Chapter Text
____________________________________________ "Breaking news: As of today, March 23rd, an alleged murder of a middle-aged man takes place in Northwest of Chicago. A look into the victim's background shows several vicious activities in the past ranging from being involved in gangs to commiting unprovoked murder and being sentenced to 3 years in prison under the claim of mental illness. Is this a personal grudge? Is it the start of a serial killer? With no witnesses around, police are to start—"
A low, exasperated sigh sounds throughout the dark empty room, accompanied by the sound of latex gloves being removed.
Against the dim light reflecting off the small TV screen, a tall figure is seen wearing a black hoodie with the hood on, head downcast.
The gloves were coated in blood, and the knuckles beneath were split and bruised.
Looking up reveals a face hidden with a black mask. Attractive sapphire-blue eyes reflect the light of the news channel, not a hint of sympathy in them.
"Good grief. This wouldn't count as malpractice, would it?"
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"Finishing up,"
"Patient stats?"
"BP and Oxygen levels are normal."
Sapphire-blue eyes flutter shut as the operation is wrapped up, face hidden by a surgical mask.
Around the bedridden patient are two surgeons, helping them are three nurses monitoring the EKG and IV drips.
The two surgeons turn to neatly discard their sterile tools, the five of them being clad in scrubs. After they all share a few quick well-dones, they walk towards two men who seem to have been observing the surgery.
"Well done, everyone. The surgery went well, and the patient is in well condition."
The gruff voice of Dr. Coleman said, an African-American man. As the head of the Surgeon team of Blackwell teaching hospital, he was in charge of supervising the medical students of Blackwell university,
The man then turns to one of the surgeons, adressing him exclusively.
"Good job, Lucius Castiel. Your precision guaranteed the success of the operation, keep it up."
All eyes turn towards the student, whether envious or proud. The young man in question bows his head slightly, looking down in respect.
"Yes, sir."
His voice is smooth, clear with confidence. As the doctor announces them a break, suggesting they grab lunch, everyone affirms as they quickly bid goodbye and head to the changing rooms.
Not long passes before the students come back out, scrubs off and back into their uniform.
Because Blackwell university is a well-funded academy with vast resources, Nurse trainees and Doctor trainees practice together, to ensure communication and cooperation, especially in surgeries.
The former wearing a simple three-pocket grey shirt along with grey trousers on the looser side, the latter wearing the same thing but in navy.
The main distinguishing factor between the students and the teachers is the white coat that teachers wear, aside from how most of them are drastically older than their students.
"Yo, Lucius! Wait up!"
At the call, Lucius pauses his stride and turns to the voice. A girl that's near identical to his height — which is a big feat — skips over, waving in his direction.
Her kinky curls are pulled back into a loose low ponytail, a coffee-brown color that reaches just below her shoulder.
It compliments her brown skin, but her grey uniform dulls her out a tad bit.
Her eyes are a color of olive-green, popping out and giving her an exotic look. They crinkle with mischief, her face pulled in a wide grin that shows off her teeth.
"Hey, Mariana."
Lucius turns to fully look at her, a soft smile forming on his face. His beach-blonde hair is long at the fringe, framing his sharp features.
He's not too pale, if actually sort of tan, sapphire-blue eyes smiling along. The navy uniform adorns his broad shoulders, the color a good fit.
"I told you, call me Marie!"
Mariana halts when she catches up to the blond, before she starts walking again and sets a slow pace. Lucius follows, walking alongside her.
The two of them started university at the same period, getting to know each other from how much they were paired together in practice.
Their personalities balaced each other quite well. While Lucius was more laid-back, Mariana was energetic.
As they walk towards the cafeteria, Mariana fills up the air by chatter that wasn't entirely important. Lucius quips in every so often, engaging in the conversation as much as he can.
The hallways are spacious, providing enough space for the large amounts of students who move throughout campus.
Other students could be seen, some of them glancing at the duo before continuing on their way.
Once they arrive, Lucius walks off with a nod as to get lunch for both of them while Mariana sits down at a table. He doesn't need to ask what she'd like.
The blond stands in the queue with two trays, occasionally smiling at a few people — mostly girls — who forgot themselves while staring at him.
Once he's got the food, Lucius walks back and finds Mariana already at a table near the corner of the Cafeteria. He walks over, setting the trays down before sitting down as well.
Only a few minutes pass before Mariana can't contain it anymore and starts another conversation while eating,
"Oh yeah! Have you seen the news last night? About that thug that got killed?"
Lucius simply looks up from his tray, staring into Mariana's eyes for a silent split moment before nodding and looking back down.
He finishes chewing before responding,
"Yeah. It looked quite gruesome."
"That's rich, coming from a surgeon."
"Even I have standard."
Mariana leans her head back in an amused laugh, missing the dark look that crossed Lucius' eyes as fast as it disappeared.
"Can't have none of that, or else you'll be hurling in the sterile room!"
"That's gross."
The girl teases, a lopsided smirk on her face as she flicks a piece of fruit at the other, Lucius barely catching it with his fork before a small grin broke out on his face.
Both of them snicker, both for completely different reasons. Only one of them knows that, though.
"Don't you have that diagnosis test after lunch break? That sucks, it's the first day of the week!"
Mariana seems like she already knows she doesn't have to ask if Lucius is ready or not. Still, the other replies,
"Yeah, with Dr. Copperfield."
"Don't forget to meet up when we're done today,"
"...That was only once."
"Once too many times!"
They playfully bicker back and forth as they stand up, empty trays in hand as they walk towards the disposal bins.
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Later on, in the silent confines of the clean bathroom stall, Lucius stands with his phone in his hand and head downcast, staring at it.
On the screen is a written report of the murder done on March 23rd, along with grotesque pictures of the body and the murder scene.
Although a good portion of it is blurred, it's disturbing enough that even blurring it doesn't help much.
Lucius stares at his phone with a blank expression, eyes sharp with something inscrutable.
The blond closes the tab before shutting his phone, flushing the unused toilet, and walking out the stall towards the sinks.
His height makes it so that he has to fold himself over the counter to splash his face with water, the cold grounding him.
Once he's done, he supports himself with his arms on the counter and stares at himself in the mirror.
Lucius's tense expression stares back, finally dropping.
Intently searching his own face, he seems to not like what he finds as he stands back up and heads for the hand-dryer with pinched eyebrows.
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"Please, doctor sir! You can't fix him without fixing my mom first!"
A short, scrawny blond kid desperately tugs on what appears to be a surgeon's scrubs and stubbornly refuses to let go.
His face is covered with tears and snot, sapphire-blue eyes red and puffy from crying.
Six-year-old Lucius's mother, Rosabelle Castiel, had just gotten assaulted unprovoked on the street.
The perpetrator initially approached her trying to bed her, a handsome man in his late 20's with an undercut and a scar on his eyebrow.
Rosabelle, sensing something off, declined him politely and ever so subtly sped up her pace.
The man, name hidden to protect his family — despite how they didn't think to hide the victim's name —, felt ridiculed by her rejection and walked after her, hand in the pocket of his jacket.
Sensing the nearing movement behind her, Rosabelle quickly reached into her purse and held tightly onto her house keys, settling with the closest weapon.
Noticing her response, the man got even angrier and pulled out a razored knife from his pocket, rushing after the woman.
Rosabelle reacted quickly and ran, calling out for help and gripping her keys in an offensive position.
The people in the street were startled by her yelling, freezing as they saw the weapon in the man's hand.
That day, no one had tried to help her, fearing for their own safety.
He caught up with her and swung the knife, slashing her arm first.
Rosabelle cried out and dropped her purse, grip loosening around the keys.
Desperately, she gathered all the strength she had and stabbed the man in his chest with the sharp point of her keys, burying the metal in his right breast.
The man cried out in return, grabbing Rosabelle's shoulder in a bruising grip and swinging her off of him, clutching his shirt where blood had started to leak after the keys were pulled out.
Blind with rage, he turned towards the poor lady where she was trying to cover the slice in her arm, and raised the knife before stabbing her in the stomach 6 times before the knife slipped out of his grip.
Now openly sobbing and begging for help, Rosabelle tried her hardest to pry the assaulter off of her. Kicking, scratching, shoving her fingernails in his eyesockets, nothing worked.
The man, now suffering with bloody eyes and cuts all over his body — Aside from the stab in his chest —, was too weak to grip the knife back.
So he wrapped his hands around Rosabelle's neck, and squeezed.
The bloody woman laid on the floor, too weak to fight back anymore, only letting out weak whimpers as her air passage was blocked.
Not long passed before Rosabelle was out cold, the assaulter passing out right on top of her.
Lucius' luck was that Rosabelle was actually coming to pick him up from the park, having just finished her side job as a waiter in a cafe.
The little boy, wondering why his mother was late to their arranged time, decided to walk the path that he memorized when she would pick him up.
After a few minutes of walking, Lucius felt his heart drop as he stumbled and watched his mother being stabbed repeatedly in her abdomen, everyone watching and hurriedly calling the police.
Immediately, the child ran towards his mother, desperate to help her, but an old man along with a middle-aged woman held the boy back from going and getting himself possibly killed.
Lucius kicked and screamed against their hold, calling out ‘Mommy!’ as Rosabelle's guts were spilling out on the man's legs and over the floor.
To Lucius, everything passed hastly through the blur of his tears as he was escorted by the police into the ambulance they rushed his mother in, a kind officer staying by his side and grounding him with an arm around his shoulders.
Once they were in the hospital, with Lucius running after his mother's stretcher, he was predictabley locked outside his mother's room.
Lucius waited on the seats outside as he watched the doctors rush in his mother's assaulter's room, crying to himself.
The hospital they were brought to wasn't of good standard, with under-qualified staff and poor equipment, but the nearest one nonetheless.
The only surgeon available at the moment walked hurriedly towards the man's room, completely passing by his mother's.
Lucius noticed this and quickly ran after the surgeon, grabbing his scrubs and not letting go as he begged for him to operate on his mother first.
"Sorry, kid, your mom did quite a number on him."
The surgeon gently pulls back his garment before rushing into the man's room and shutting the door, leaving behind a devastated-looking Lucius.
What Lucius didn't know, is that his mother had already been dead.
Even when they carried her through the ambulance, she had no heartbeat whatsoever, and half her guts were already spilled outside her abdomen.
Still, they had to carry her to the hospital on the off-chance they could resurrect her, but it was mostly for public appearance.
To see the ambulance take in the culprit and leave the victim behind, the backlash of the media and citizens would surely cause quite the problem.
The death of Lucius's mother hit him hard, especially because she'd been the only one to support him throughout his childhood.
Lucius had been brought to the trial where they judged his mother's killer, only because he wanted to see it.
In the end, the six-year-old felt very opposed and angry as he watched the man get a mere three and a half years of prison.
With mirth in his eyes, young Lucius' hatred for the unjust law had dug it's roots.
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"I think I'm going to be sick.."
A group of 5 officers were huddled around a table, the office lights bright and overwhelming.
Their youngest — and newest — officer, a tough-looking man with short black hair and intimidating grey eyes, slowly moves his hand to his stomach while looking away from the offensive pictures on the table.
Said pictures were taken at the crime scene of the most recent homicide. Provided with the uncensored version of the images, the slit throat of the victim stares back at the officers.
It looks messy, blood everywhere with the man slumped against the dirty alleyway wall.
"For a guy that looks as scary as you, you've got a queasy gut, Blake."
"You're telling me seeing the insides of a throat doesn't wanna make you spill your breakfast?"
Blake groans, taking off his peaked cap and running his hands through the short jet hair.
The one who directed the tease, a shorter redhead with freckles, cackles as he makes throat-splitting gestures with his thumb at the other.
"Enough, Cainn. Let's focus on the case."
A gruff, strict voice immediately makes everyone else straighten, looking back onto the table where the documents and files lay.
The owner of the voice, Captain Faris, a tall but buff man with a black beard and short hair, crosses his arms against his bulging chest.
The healed scar on the side of his face gives him a more grim aura, the tissue hairless in the midst of his facial hair.
"The body was found in an abandoned alleyway by the side of a small fish-shop, the owner only found it in the early morning while taking the trash out."
Another tan blonde officer summarizes a long paragraph on one of the documents, reading it aloud to his team.
"That means the body could've been killed days ago, right? Nobody checks abandoned alleyways.."
Cainn, the ginger, speculates as he places his hands on his hips.
"Actually, the report says that the blood wasn't that dry. It must've been the night before."
The last officer with short brown hair says, looking at one of the files while supporting herself with her hands on the table.
"I don't think it'd be far-fetched to assume he was sought out."
Everyone — aside from Faris, who stays focused on the evidence — turns to look at Blake, who looks considerably much more better than before.
"Welcome back, Blakie."
"Shut up, Dylan."
The tan blond, Dylan, salutes him with a smug smirk as Cainn snickers, nudging Blake, and Blake himself shoves the redhead away.
"So do we assume this is the doing of another gang member?"
"No. While that's the most possible explanation, there's room for other suspects."
Faris shakes his head at the brunette's — Aliyah — question, arms still crossed. Aliyah sighs, the muscular woman shifting her hips thoughtfully.
"Did they check for fingerprints? Or any DNA? He must've fought back, right? He was a thug."
Blake looks at Faris, knowing that if anyone knows, it'd be him surely.
"No. The crime was covered up well, as no CCTV spotted the culprit. They were most likely wearing gloves, as no fingerprints were found either."
Faris grunts, grabbing one of the files to flip through it.
"And for the Dna?" "They?"
Aliyah and Cainn ask simultaneously, looking at eachother before the brunette scowls and raises an eyebrow,
"Yeah, it doesn't have to take a man to fuck up someone's throat."
"I know that! I meant they, as in, Are we sure that it's a group? We don't know if it's a one-man crime, do we?"
The redhead responds, defending himself. He looks offended that Aliyah assumed he'd be sexist.
"Well, the thug does look quite strong. Maybe they'd need a few people to fight him?"
Dylan points out, looking at the victim's body charts and medical history.
"There were no signs of struggle."
Everyone turns, yet again, to look at Faris. The captain turns the files in his hand around to show the rest of the officers, close-ups of the body with other medical information beside it.
"As you can see, the cut across his throat is a clean swipe, meaning that he was either standing still or laying down when it happened."
Faris explains as everyone else hums in agreement.
"It could've been an ambush."
"Right in the open street?"
"Wasn't he found in an alleyway?"
"If he was dragged into an alleyway before the strike, there would've been signs of struggle, dumbass."
Dylan and Cainn bicker back and forth, while Aliyah watches them with an unamused expression.
"Maybe he was drugged."
Blake suggests, looking at his captain.
"That's true, he could've been at a club before he was killed. Who knows what thugs drink or do in night-time clubs."
Aliyah agrees, leaning over as she opens a report to see if he was spotted near any clubs before his death.
"Or he abused drugs on his own, it wouldn't be totally out of the blue. He has a criminal record."
The youngest officer sighs, placing his fingers on his chin in thought.
"We don't have enough witnesses to clarify that, but I'll retrieve the drug tests results tomorrow."
Faris nods at Aliyah and Blake approvingly, making Aliyah nod back and Blake look away shyly.
"Dude, your personality does not match how you look at all."
Cainn drawls out, staring at Blake oddly. Dylan beside him nods agreeingly, seemingly having came to a truce with the ginger.
That's how it usually goes.
"I don't get it."
The raven-haired man says, tilting his head as Aliyah sighs and Faris cuts them off before they could continue their useless teasing.
"Aliyah, where was the corpse kept and autopsied?"
"At Blackwell Hospital, sir."
"Oh, I can do it!"
Both the brunette and the captain turn to Blake – Cainn and Dylan arguing on the side about whether or not the thug had gotten laid before dying — who had quipped in suddenly.
"I'm passing by Blackwell hospital on the way to meet my girlfriend tomorrow, I can just get the results before or after."
Blake elaborates, looking way too enthusiastic to be getting drug tests results.
Or he wants to be useful, seeing as how how he's a rookie who'd want to prove his competence.
Faris gives it a thought before giving Blake the go-ahead, ignoring the wide — and totally unfitting — grin that his younger subordinate gives him.
"Okay. Let's look at the last remaining files before wrapping up."
____________________________________________
"Lucius?"
The call breaks the blond's train of thought, snapping back into reality as he looks up with a tranced look.
The professor, a man who seems to be in his late 40's with short grey hair and rectangular black-frame glasses, looks at Lucius with concern before clearing his throat.
"I'll repeat the question. Which aspects of this patient's history are risk factors for vascular disease?"
The man points behind him to the projector screen, which showcases a long documentation of a patient medical history and information.
Lucius takes a short moment to read, not needing much time to answer.
"Older than 55, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, previous myocardial infraction, overweight, smoker, and FHx."
The doctor looks at Lucius thoughtfully, trying to gouge out the unusual behavior of the student before sighing and reaching for his laptop again.
"Very good, Castiel. But please pay attention next time."
"I'm sorry, Dr. Anderson."
Lucius can hear a few exasperated sighs and murmurs, about how he always gets away with it, but decides to ignore them as usual.
The lecture hall is neat, a wide room that lets in natural sunshine from wider windows.
Just as the doctor switches the showcase and was about to ask another question, the loud bell that signifies the end of the day blares throughout the building.
"Well done, everyone. Make sure to remember to finish your assignment due tomorrow— Oh, and Lucius? A word, please?"
As the students stand up and begin to leave bit by bit, Lucius pauses and turns around at the call of his name.
He looks at Dr. Anderson with reluctance but steps up anyway, putting on a polite smile.
"Yes, sir?"
"What's got you looking so guilty, huh? Did you get in any trouble during the weekend?"
The professor says with an easy-going smile, hoping to lighten his student's uncharacteristically damp mood.
Dr. Anderson is not a very out-going person. Sure, most of the students like him because he's not over-bearing, but he's also usually strict.
He's only been sighted smiling and being relaxed a few times, most of them courtesy of Lucius.
"No, sir. I'm not like that."
Lucius shows him a shy grin, playing into his innocent charisma. In return, the doctor lets out a fond scoff as he reaches for the student's head.
"I know that. I'm proud of you, kid."
The blond groans at having his hair ruffled, laughing softly when the professor chuckles. He looks visibly brighter, looking up — or down, as Lucius is taller than Dr. Anderson — to his mentor.
"I won't let you down, sir."
Dr. Anderson looks like he wants to say something else, but waves his hand to dismiss the younger.
Lucius playfully salutes the doctor, giving him a small wave before walking out the lecture hall.
He walks past multiple people, smiling good-naturedly when some of them call out to him as he makes his way to the library.
Walking past the large doors, he greets the brunette librarian as she gives him a soft smile, nudging up her purple-framed glasses.
Lucius keeps walking until he spots another tall familiar brunette hunching over one of the books, squinting at the paper with a focused expression.
Just as he looks over her shoulder, Mariana jumps as she turns around and smacks Lucius in the face with the front of the book.
"Hey!"
"Whoops!"
Mariana looks guilty only for a split second before she sees the cover dented onto his reddening cheek and starts cackling loudly.
"Pwhuahhahaah! Look at your face!"
"Why you.."
Lucius can feel his eye twitching as he glares at the brunette howling like a hyena before he grabs another random book and smacks her face back.
The girl splutters, laughing interrupted as she yelps and takes a leap back, arms infront of her.
"Hey! You can't hit me!"
"My hands are gender-neutral."
"That doesn't mean anything!"
Lucius jumps at her, Mariana only jumping away at the last second before she breaks into a sprint, with the blond on her tail.
"You surprised me! That's why I smacked you!"
"Is my face scary to you? I was just looking over your shoulder!"
The two yell back and forth, still chasing eachother as they maneuver between tables and bookshelfs.
Thankfully, the day's just ended, which means the library's relatively empty.
That, though, doesn't stop the librarian from before as she steps between Mariana and Lucius, holding out an arm infront of the boy.
Lucius barely manages to hit the brakes for his legs, barely not crashing into the short girl, looking down at her with a surprised face.
Mariana notices and takes the opportunity to hide behind the scary librarian, sticking out her tongue at the blond.
"No running or yelling in the library."
The taller boy straightens as he nods at the brunette, flashing her a cute small nervous grin.
She keeps a straight face, but her cheeks involuntarily redden as she looks away and walks back to the front desk.
As Lucius looks at her retreating form, Mariana sneaks back next to him and nudges his shoulder.
"You were so let off the hook just because she's into you."
"You're just jealous."
Lucius nudges her back as he makes his way to an empty table in the corner.
"Hell yeah, do you see how cute she is? You're lucky you're a guy!"
The blond raises an unamused eyebrow at the brunette, watching her follow him to the table.
Once they've both settled down — which took way longer than it should with Mariana trying to pick a song from her playlist — and grabbed a few books to study, the brunette suddenly looks up at Lucius.
"Yo, I just remembered!"
"What?"
Mariana looks around — stupidly, as no one is in the library yet — before leaning in to whisper, making the blond roll his eyes but lean in too nonetheless.
"You remember that homicide that took place yesterday?"
Lucius casts an odd look to Mariana before nodding.
"Well, I heard that the victim's body was autopsied in Blackwell hospital! Our hospital!"
An annoyed tick of Lucius' eyebrow gives his thoughts away, but he quickly schools his expression back to neutral as he faces Mariana.
"How'd you know that?"
"Rumor spreads."
The brunette shrugs, grabbing two cans of raspberry soda and lemon soda and giving the latter to Lucius.
Lucius mutters a quick thanks, taking the can and opening it. As he first sips, he watches Mariana open the can while squinting at the open book infront of her.
"Are your contacts not working?"
"Yeah, I think I need to get new ones.."
"Why not just wear your glasses?"
The blond places his face in his palm, looking at Mariana like he'd just solved world hunger.
"Oh please, I look ugly in those—"
"Is this leniency absolutely okay?"
The professional voice of the news reporter lady cuts their small chat, both of them looking over at the corner TV screen that had just suddenly switched from a calm national geographic channel to a news channel.
"The media is raged by the release of Jeremiah Karson from prison, a man sentenced to 2 years of prison for raping a 5-months pregnant woman and killing her unborn fetus.
Jeremiah's sentence had been shortened because the victim, Laura Wharton had been wearing a flimsy pregnancy dress and was left out of her husband's surveillance.
The outcry of the public demand such a man be put back into prison, not caring that he had apparent 'Mental disorders'.
The victim's famil—"
"That's disgusting.."
Lucius is snapped out of his trance, realizing that he'd been staring at the TV screen unblinking, and turns to look at Mariana.
Predictabley, she looks just as repulsed as Lucius feels.
The blond forces his face and tone into a neutral sympathy as he responds,
"I feel bad for the woman."
"I know, right? That must've been devastating.."
Mariana huffs as she sets her can down, looking back up at Lucius.
She notices the zoned-out look on his face and snaps her fingers at his face,
"Hellooo? Earth to Lucius? We have to get back to studying!"
Lucius stares at Mariana unnervingly, before slowly smiling and nodding.
"Yeah. Let's get to work."
Mariana raises an eyebrow at the sudden distant attitude, but shrugs it off as exhaustion from a full day of lectures and continues sipping her soda.
The blond watches her, mentally playing back Jeremiah's personal informatio
n that had been displayed on the screen, a dark look flashing in his eyes.
Maybe she shouldn't have shrugged it off, after all.
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